Thank you to all those who donated to the ECA 2020 End of the Year Campaign! Your support allows ECA to build a movement of Elders taking action on the climate crisis. Donate Now

What Climate Actions have you been taking? Tell us in 150 words (max) what you are most proud of: we'll share it in a future newsletter!

Find more ways to take action in our Take Action with ECA Section of our website. Check out Upcoming Events Here.

We expect that President Biden will start his term with a 100-day policy push, in keeping with the tradition established by FDR. And, in keeping with ECA’s tradition of seizing every opportunity to push for action on the Climate Crisis, we will have our own "100 Days of Accountability" 

We're joining dozens of groups representing millions of people across the country to demand the Biden Administration

ECA is partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for the Earth, Young Adults for Climate Justice, on an intergenerational climate dialogue on January 14th at 7:00PM ET, 4:00 PM PT. Elders are welcome to join in conversation with young adults to explore intergenerational similarities and differences as well as some historic wisdom and experiences of elders in climate justice. To register bit.ly/intergen2

On these national days of action, we commemorate the birthday of Rosa Parks and her courageous resistance by affirming that public transportation is a civil right, and demanding a national recovery plan in 2021 that includes robust public transit. ECA joins with the Transit Equity Network, transit workers, riders, and our environmental and civil rights allies in calling for the federal and local funding necessary for affordable, accessible, renewable and equitable public transit for all, and fair pay and safe working conditions for all transit workers. 

Affordable public transportation is essential to the Vision for Equitable Climate Action (VECA), a detailed platform of targets and financing strategies for transforming equitably each U.S. economic sector that contributes to carbon emissions – including transportation, which produces more emissions than any other sector of the economy. ECA members were instrumental in developing VECA, and our January 26 National Call will present the VECA plan to achieve zero emissions in the surface transportation sector.

TAKE ACTION: On February 3 and 4, the Transit Equity Network will host a “Community Hearing on Transit Equity,” with a panel of activists and community members, for the purpose of influencing decision makers and the public. The event is open for public participation, and you can participate in many ways. Here’s the Organizing Toolkit and, if you are a transit rider or worker, or if your community lacks adequate public transit, we ask you to testify. The Organizing Toolkit will also help you participate in the February 4 Day of Action. Wednesday, Feb. 3, from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. Eastern; Thursday, Feb. 4, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern.

Extreme heat, wildfires and air pollution due to climate change are not just threats to future generations; they present public health risks in the U.S. today. In its fifth annual report “Countdown on Climate Change and Health,” the medical journal The Lancet (Dec. 2, 2020), reported that rising temperatures and environmental pollutants have fatal consequences for thousands of older Americans, with a 50 percent increase across the globe over the last 20 years in heat-related deaths among people older than 65. The report, with contributions from more than 35 research institutions around the world, called on lawmakers to take urgent action to stem the rise of greenhouse gases and strengthen the country’s public health system.

And a Dec. 2020 report on the rising rate of heat death by Yale Climate Connections warns that, unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed, the U.S. could average more than 9,300 additional premature deaths from exposure to extreme heat by the end of the century. Sociologist Eric Klinenberg of New York University, author of "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago,” urged action, noting that heat-wave deaths are “isolated, lonely, painful deaths.” We cannot allow this to happen indigenous, minority, poor and marginalized Elders.

Check out our Climate Change and the Health of Older Adults factsheet developed in partnership with Moms Clean Air Force

If you missed the sessions on Local and State Climate Policy, You can catch up now! Then be sure to join the final workshop on Federal policy (details below).

Email us at info@eldersclimateaction.org to get involved.

Elders Climate Action is a part of ELDERS ACTION NETWORK (EAN), a 501C3 organization whose mission is to build a movement of elders to address the social and environmental crises of our time. Visit the EAN website to learn about EAN's other action groups and offerings.